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GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH NEWS #5: HEALTH SECTOR ASSESSMENT
Citation:
GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH NEWS #5: HEALTH SECTOR ASSESSMENT. 1999.
Description:
The Health Sector Assessment is one of the three levels of the assessment process that is intended to answer four questions: (1) What is the current status of the nation's health, and what are current stresses on our health? (2) How might climate change affect the country's health and existing or predicted stresses on health? (3) What is the country's capacity to adapt to climate change, for example, through modifications to the health infrastructure or by adopting specific coping mechanisms? What are the negative health impacts, if any, of adapting? What are the co-benefits, if any? What are the economic and social costs/benefits? (4) What essential knowledge gaps must be filled? These questions can be answered, to the extent an answer is currently possible, through comprehensive research in a range of sources, including scientific literature; government reports and information; ongoing and unpublished research; and some computer modeling, using climate change and socioeconomic scenarios developed by the NAST. The Health Sector Assessment will look at what is known about the relationship between climate and health, and at the effects warmer temperatures, sea level rise, and changes in the hydrological cycle might have on human health in the United States. The assessment will factor in expected changes in the American population and way of life as a result of aging, urbanization, immigration patterns, population growth, economic development, and other changes. It must also evaluate the extent to which the nation can adapt to or mitigate the health effects of climate change, and identify other current and possible future health priorities for the country that might compete for the nation's attention and resources.